A brief version history of .NET Framework

.Net is  a software development platform developed by Microsoft. It runs on Microsoft Windows OS. .NET provides tools and libraries that allow developers to develop applications and services much easily, faster and secure by using a convenient way.

.NET Framework Version History

.NET Version

Introduced IDE

Features Detail

4.6

Visual Studio 2015

1. Introduced RyuJIT, a new JIT compiler for 64-bit systems
2. Introduced Open Source .Net Framework Packages
3. Support for Code page encodings
4. Improvements to event tracing

4.5.1

Visual Studio 2013

1. Includes performance and debugging improvements
2. Support for automatic binding redirection
3. Expanded support for Windows Store apps

4.5

Visual Studio 2012

1. Features Enhancements to CLR 4.0
2. Async Support
3. Support for building Windows Store apps
4. Features Enhancement to WPF, WCF, WF, and ASP.NET

4.0

Visual Studio 2010

1. Introduced CLR 4.0
2. Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF)
3. Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR)
4. Task Parallel Library

3.5

Visual Studio 2008

1. Built-In AJAX Support
2. LINQ
3. Dynamic Data
4. Multi-targeting Framework Support

3.0

Visual Studio 2005

1. Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
2. Windows Communications Foundation (WCF)
3. Windows Workflow Foundation (WF), and CardSpace

2.0

Visual Studio 2005

1. Introduced CLR 2.0
2. Generics and generic collections
3. Partial classes
4. Nullable types
5. Anonymous methods
6. Introduced many new controls and features to ASP.NET

1.1

Visual Studio .NET 2003

1. Features Enhancement to ASP.NET and ADO.NET
2. Built-in support for mobile ASP.NET controls
3. Security Enhancement
4. Built-in support for ODBC and databases
5. Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) support

1.0

Visual Studio .NET

1. Introduced CLR 1.0
2. Support for Object-oriented Web application development
3. Use of DLL class libraries

Note

CLR 3.0 is skipped by Microsoft.